Posable figure manikin

ABSTRACT

A BENDABLE TOY FIGURE WHICH IS ECONOMICAL TO PRODUCE COMPRISING A BODY WIRE, ARM WIRE, AND LEG, ALL OF THE WIRES BEING BENDABLE AND COVERED BY A FLEXIBLE PLASTIC MATERIAL THAT DEFINES A MECHANICAL MAN. THE CENTER OF THE ARM WIRE, WHICH EXTENDS THROUGH THE CHEST PORTION OF THE FIGURE, HAS A SINGLE BEND, SO THAT THE ARMS EXTEND AT ABOUT A 120* ANGLE FROM EACH OTHER. THE HEAD OF THE   FIGURE IS FEATURELESS AND A SEPARATE HAT WITH EAR FLAPS IS PROVIDED WHICH ENGAGES THE HEAD FOR ROTATION THEREON, SO THAT THE FIGURE APPEARS TO FACE IN A DIRECTION DEFINED BY THE ORIENTATION OF THE HAT.

- 7, 1971 H. J. FoLsoN ETAL 3,624,960

POSABLE FIGURE MANIKIN 2 Shoots-Shoot 1 Filed Oct. 31, 1969 Dec. 7, 1971H. J. FoLsoN ETAL 3,624,960

POSABLE FIGURE MANIKIN Filed Oct. 3l, 1969 2 Sheets-Shoot 2 mM/'JMirral/vil United States Patent O 3,624,960 POSABLE FIGURE MANIKIN HenryJ. Folson, Redondo Beach, J. Stephen Lewis, Pacific Palisades, Marius J.Morin, Torrance, and John W.

Ryan, Los Angeles, Calif., assignors to Mattel, Inc.,

Hawthorne, Calif.

Filed Oct. 31, 1969, Ser. No. 872,949 Int. Cl. A63h 3/00 U.S. Cl. 46-1511 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A bendable toy figure which iseconomical to produce comprising a body wire, arm wire, and leg wire,all of the wires being bendable and covered by a flexible plasticmaterial that denes a mechanical man. The center of the arm wire, whichextends through the chest portion of the figure, has a single bend, sothat the arms extend at about a 120 angle from each other. The head ofthe ligure is featureless and a separate hat with ear flaps is providedwhich engages the head for rotation thereon, so that the figure appearsto face in a direction defined by the orientation of the hat.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the invention This inventionrelates to toy figures.

(2) Description of the prior art Posable toy figures can be constructedusing bendable wire armatures covered with a flexible plastic or othermaterial. Such figures have typically been molded by using a length ofbendable wire for the body, a second length laid straight across thebody wire to form a pair of arms, and a third length laid across thebottom of the body wire to form a pair of legs. These wires were held inan injection mold and a flexible covering material was injected into themold to surround the Wires. The arms were typically molded to extendstraight out, in alignment with each other. If no precautions were takento firmly anchor the center of the wire that passes through the body,torque applied to one arm would be transmitted to the other arm, whichwould interfere with separate posing of the arms. Accordingly, the armwire was formed with a zigzag portion where it passed through the body.The four bends in the wire required to form a simple zigzag, or eventhree bends required to form a definite discontinuity in alignment,increases the cost of production. This is because the wire must lay in aparticular position in the mold, and a greater number of bendsnecessitates a smaller tolerance in the angle at each bend so that thelocation of the opposite ends of the wires can be held within aparticular limit.

Several other diiculties are encountered in forming a simple bendablefigure. Even with an accurately formed armature wire, difficulties areencountered in holding the wire While molding material around it. Also,while wire armatures allow bending of the arms and legs, it is difiicultto provide means for allowing the head to face in a variety ofdirections, since the wires and their coverings often cannot withstandlarge amounts of twisting.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present inventionis to provide a bendable toy figure which is economical to produce.

Another object is to provide an economical method for producing toyfigures.

In accordance with the present invention, a toy figure is provided whichcan be produced in an economical manner. The gure includes a bodyportion and a covered bendable wire that extends through the bodyportion to form a pair of arms. The center of the wire, which passesthrough the body portion, forms a simple V with a single bend, so thatthe arms are not aligned with each other. The single bend permitseconomical production, while preventing transmittal of torque from onearm to the other.

In one embodiment of the invention, a pair of arms and a pair of legsare each formed by a wire with a bend at the center where it is attachedto the body of the ligure. The figure is designed to represent amechanical man, and the body includes a nut at the chest and a nut atthe abdomen. The arm wire extends through the chest nut, and the centerof the nut is provided with a thin web which is only as thick as thewire, to facilitate holding the wire in the mold. The leg wire extendsin the same manner through the abdomen nut.

The body of the figure includes a bolt-like portion that connects theabdomen and chest nuts, the head of the bolt being spherical to form thehead of the figure. A hat with ear flaps is provided that can engage thehead, the ear flaps holding the hat in place and indicating thedirection in which the figure is facing. Although the head has nofeatures, the ear aps indicate the direction in which the figure isfacing and this apparent facing direction can be turned by merelyturning the hat.

The novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity inthe appended claims. The invention will be best understood from thefollowing description when read in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of atoy figure constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevation view of the toy figure of FIG. l;

FIG. 3 is a partially sectional, enlarged view of area 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5--5 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a view taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a front elevation view of the wire armature framework of thetoy figure;

FIG. 8 is a partial plan View of a lower die for forming the toy figureof FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a partial bottom view of an upper die for forming the toyfigure of FIG. l;

FIG. 10 is a partial front elevation view showing a. hat on the toyfigure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is a view similar to FIG. 10, but with the hat turned from astraight ahead position; and

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a coupling member which can be used tohold the toy figure on a stand.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 illustrates a toy FIG.10 that appears to be composed of nuts, bolts and similar mechanicalparts. The mechanical parts include a bolt 12 whose head 14 forms thehead of the figure and whose threaded portion 16 forms the neck and partof the body. A pair of nuts 18, 20 engaged with the bolt form the chestand abdomen of the figure, and four link-like assemblies 22, 24, 26 and28 extend from the nuts to form the arms and legs. The figure isactually constructed of three bendable wire armatures, or wires,including body wire 30, arm wire 32 and leg wire 34, and an integralplastic covering 36 that covers the armatures. The covering 36 is moldedto provide the nut, bolt, ad link-like shapes. The figure has couplingholes 37 at the ends of its arms and legs that can receive pins onconstruction blocks and other toy objects for holding the figure tothem.

As shown in FIG. 7, the arm wire 32 has a simple 120 fbend at its center38. This serves to isolate the arms 22 and 24 from torque applied toeither arm, so that when a child twists the end of one arm, the otherarm does not move. If, instead, the center portion of the arm wire werestraight, so that the arms were aligned, and a child bent the end of onearm in posing the figure, the entire length of wire would twist, sincetwisting cannot be easily resisted by the covering material. While a 120bend has found satisfactory, a range of angles can be used so that thewire portions on either side of the toy figure body form an angle ofless than 180 with each other.

The toy ligure is molded by first bending the body, arm, and leg wires30, 32 and 34, to the shape shown in FIG. 7, and placing them in a moldwith the body wire 30 positioned adjacent to the arm and leg wires asshown in FIG. 5. The mold has a cavity which defines the covering 36,and a flexible plastic material is injected into the cavity around thewire armatures to form the complete figure. During the moldingoperation, the wires must be held at particular positions within themold. Inasmuch as the wires can bend, it is necessary to hold each ofthe wires at several positions along their length. As shown in FIG. 8,the lower die 40 of the mold has a cavity 42 defining the lower part ofthe figure to be molded.

In order to mold a figure, an operator first lays the arm armature wire32 in the position indicated by phantom lines in FIG. 8. The location ofthe wire 32 is fixed at ve positions along its length by the lower die40. These five positions include the center of the wire at the bend 38,where a post-like wire-engaging member 44 contacts the wire at theinside of the bend, and Where a pair of die portions 46, 48 defining theinside of the chest nut support the wire to establish its level in themold. A pair of wire receiving members 50, 52 support a portion of thewire between the body and hands at a predetermined level in the mold.Two pairs of wire-engaging members support the outer ends of the armwire, these members including a pair 54, 56 at the left hand 36L and apair 58, 60 at the right hand 36R. The leg wire 34 is layed in positionin a similar manner, and it is supported at live positions on the lowerdie member, in the same manner as the arm wire. After the arm and legwires are laid in the die cavity, the body wire 30 is laid in positionover the posts, such as post 44, that engage the center of the arm andleg wires.

In order to prepare the arm wire 32, it is first bent t an angle of morethan 120, so it is under bending stress in the die and therefore itholds itself in place, particularly against post 44. The extreme ends33, 35 of the arm wire are bent to partially encircle the wire engagingmembers 54, 58 in the die. The arm wire is short enough so that theextreme ends 33, 35 bear against members 54, 58 to accurately locatethese ends in the die. The members 54, 58 also serve to form couplingholes that can receive a pin that holds the toy ligure to other toyapparatus such as building blocks.

After the wires have been laid in the lower die member 40, and upper diemember 80, shown in FIG. 9 is moved down over the lower die member toclose the mold. The upper die member also engages the arm wire at fivepositions along its length. These include the center portion lwhere apair of die portions 82, 84 press down against the wire to hold itbetween themselves and the lower die portions 46, 48, posts at 86 and-88 that press down against the arm wire to fix its lever in the mold atpositions beltween the hands and body, and posts at 90 and 92 that pressagainst the arm wire near the outer ends. In addition, the upper dieincludes a post at 94 that lies opposite the post 44 in the lower diemember., the body wire 30 being trapped between these posts 44, 94 tofix the position 4 of the body wire in the mold. Similar wire engagingmembers are utilized at the leg wire.

The several wire engaging members leave apertures in the finishedfigure. Most of these apertures serve no especially useful purpose,except for the coupling apertures 37 which are designed to receivecoupling pins, these apertures being left by the wire engaging memberssuch as those at 54 and 58 in the dies. The rest of the apertures aresmaller, and the wires often can be seen through them in the finishedfigure, since these holes extend to the wires. However, inasmuch as thefigure represents a mechanical man, the appearance of wire in him doesnot detract from his appearance. In a similar manner, the die portions46, 48, 84 and 82 that engage the center of the arm wire, leave a thinweb in the center of the chest nut that reveals the wire runningtherealong within the thicker peripheral nut portions. However, therevealing of wire here and at the center of the abdomen nut does notdetract from the appearance of the mechanical figure. The die lalsoincludes cores for forming a hole in the head (to permit more rapidcooling of the molded figure) and coupling holes in the feet, but theseand other die portions are of a tyne well known in the art.

As shown in FIG. 10, the head 114 of the mechanical figure may becovered by a hat that represents a hard hat of the type typically wornby construction workers. This hat has a pair of ear flaps 102 and 104 ofthe type which is sometimes provided on hat liners for use in coldweather to warm the ears of construction workers. The ear flaps serve toengage the head 14 of the figure to hold the hat thereon while allowingits rotation thereabout. The flaps 10'2, 104 extend below the center ofthe substantially spherical head, and they are biased toward each otherto hold the hat onto the head. In addition to serving as hat retainers,the flaps indicate the position of the figures ears, and thereforeindicate the direction in which his head is facing.

The head 14 is molded without any facial features. Therefore, anindication of the direction in which the head is facing is given almostsolely by the ear flaps 102, 104 on hat 100. Accordingly, the head canbe made to appear to face in a variety of directions by merely rotatingthe hat 100 on the head. Other types of hats can be used which arepivotally mounted on the head in another manner, such as by a plug 101that fits into a hole at the top of the head. However, so long as thehats contain indicia indicating the direction in which the wearer isfacing, such as the emblem on a firemans hat or the viser on apolicemans hat, such indicia will enable apparent rotation of the headmerely by rotating the hat thereon.

As mentioned previously, the various coupling holes in the mechanicalfigure are designedto receive coupling pins for coupling the figure toblocks and stands. FIG. 12 illustrates a stand 110 which can support aleg 26 of the ligure. The figure leg and stand can be coupled by amember with a pin that projects through a hole 112y in the figure legand a hole such as hole 1=14 in the stand. However, such a couplingmember would position the fig-ure leg off the center of the stand, whichis undesirable in some cases. In accordance with the invention, acoupling member 116 is provided which enables the figure to be held at aposition between two holes such as hole 114 and hole 118 in the stand.The coupling member 116 includes a base 120, a pair of coupling pins122, 124 on one side, and a coupling pin 126 on the other side. Thecoupling pin 126 is located at a position along the base which isinbetween the pins -122, 124 therealong. Accordingly, any toy membersuch as the mechanical figure leg 26, which is held by pin 126 is heldat a position inbetween the coupling holes 114, 118- of the stand. Thecoupling member 116 can be used in another way, to support two legs ofthe mechanical figure, by turning the coupling 1'16 upside down,inserting pin i12-6 into a hole such as hole 114 in the stand, andinserting the two legs 26,

2'8 of the mechanical figure onto the two pins 122, 124 of the couplingmember.

Thus, the invention provides a bendable mechanicalappearing figure whichis economical to construct. The invention also provides a hat for thegure which allows an apparent turning of the gure head, and a couplingmember for facilitating coupling of the ligure to a stand or other toyapparatus.

Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described andillustrated herein, it is recognized that 10 modications and variationsmay readily occur to those skilled in the art and, consequently, it isintended that the claims be interpreted to cover such modifications andequivalents.

What is claimed is:

1. A toy figure comprising:

a molded ligure of elastic material having a body portion and limbsextending therefrom;

a bendable wire armature embedded in said -gure and having portionsextending along said limbs;

a coupling hole extending through the ends of at least some of saidlimbs; and

the end portions of the wire armature in at least some of said limbsbeing configured to at least partially encircle an associated one ofsaid coupling holes.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,626,533 4/1927 Hergershauscn46-156 5 LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner I. Q. LEVER, JR., AssistantExaminer

